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If I Order My Plants Now Can I Keep Them Inside Until It’s Warm Enough To Move Them Outside?
Connie – Albany, NY

Spring is almost within reach making pond owners everywhere anxious to begin this seasons water gardening. While you don’t want to be the left in the dust by waiting too long to get your plants, are you going to waste your money by ordering your plants too early and subjecting them to cold weather? It is not uncommon for customers with established green houses to order plants early in the season and keep them indoors, but what about the every-day water gardener who doesn’t have a greenhouse?

The difficulty associated with maintaining your aquatic plants indoors depends on the type of plant. Bog plants can be potted and watered, floating plants would be placed in aquariums or Tupperware containers filled with water, and lilies can be placed in planting media and partially submerged. While plants intended for cooler temperatures or partial shade will do well when left by a window, tropical plants and floating plants intended for warmer zones will require grow lights to provide an abundance of warmth and beneficial light spectrum. The type of plant purchased, and the zone you are located in will determine how long you would need to keep the plant indoors before you can add it to your pond.

Purchasing the plants that are ideal for your area is made fairly simple by using a zone map. Zone maps break down areas of the country into zones based on their climate. Each plant is assigned a zone or range of zones that it can thrive in. By locating yourself on a zone map and assigning yourself a zone you can then select plants that do particularly well in that zone. You can also purchase plants that are intended for zones with warmer climates, but they will need to be added to your pond later in the season when it is warmer, and they may not last as long as plants intended for cooler climates.

To make early plant purchases easy for those of us with less-than-green thumbs we allow customers to order their aquatic plants whenever they like and we will hold them until their zone is past warnings of frost and cold weather. Sending your plants to you when temperatures are ideal in your area will help ensure that your plants will survive and limit the amount of work you have to do to get the plants ready for your pond. Simply choose the ones you would like to see in your water garden and our friendly pond guys and gals will take care of the rest.